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Show ACCOUNT OF THE WRITERS ON THE Alfonfo de Mata, 'and Alfonfo d'Ojeda, both conquet'ors, and writers of commentaries on the conqueil: of Mexico, which Herrera and Torquemada have made ufe of. Thofe of ?jeda at:e the fulle{l:. and the moft dl:eemed. He was more acquamted With the Ind1ans, being the perfon appointed to attend to the auxiliary troops of the Spaniards. The Anonymous Conqueror. This is the name given to the author of a {hort, but very curious, and efteemed relation which is found in the colleCtion of Ramufio, under the title of The Relation of a Gentlemtln who attendt'd Ferdinand Cortes. I have not been able to conjecture who this gentleman may have been, as no author makes mention of him; but, whoever he was, he is candid, accurate, and curious. Without troubling himfdf with the events of the conqudl:, he rel ates what he obfcrved in Mexico concerning the houfes, the fcpulchrc , the arms, the drcilcs, the manner of eating and dri1_1king, &c. of the Mexicans, and defcribes the form of their temples. If his work had not been fo much confined, there would have been no· one comparable to it refpeCting the antiquities of Mexico. Francifco Lopez de Gomara. The hiftory of New Spain, written by this learned Spaniard agt'eeable to information received from the mouths of the conquerors, and the writings vf the firft religious miHionaries who were employed in the converfion of the M xicans, and printed in Samgofl:t in 15 54, is curious and well drawn up. He was the fidl: who publifhcd the fefl:ivals, rites, hws, and the method by which the Mexi- ·ans computed time: but there arc many inaccuracies in it on account of thefc fir(\: inf n_nations which he obtained not having been altogether exaCt. The tranilation of this work in t!w Tu (can language, printed :1t Venice in 1599, is fo full of errors it cannot be read without difgull:. " T~ribi~ de Benavente. A moO: celebrated ~p:1ni:trd of the order of St. _l· ranc1s , and 01:e of the twelve firfi: preachers who announced the goJpel to the Mex~cans, known commonly f\om his evangelical poverty, by the. Mex~can name of Moto/in£a, wrote, among his apofioJical works, 'The Ifijlory of tht: Indians of New /.,'pain, divided into three parts. In the firfl, he explains the rite.s of their ancient reli gion ; in t>. the AN C IE NT H IS T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. the fecond, their converfion to the Chrifi:ian faith, and· th ir life when Chri11ians ; and in the third, he difcourfes of their genius, th ir arts, and their cuftoms. Of this hiilory, which is completed in one volume, folio, there are fome copies to be found in Spain. He wrot alfo a work on the Mexican Calendar (the original of whi h is 1 rcfcrvcd in Mexico), and others not lefs ufcful to the Spaniards than th~ Indians. Andrea d' Olmo . A Francifcan Spaniard, of holy memory. Thi. indefatigable 1 reacher acquired the Mex ican, Totona an, and IluilXtecan langua res, and compofed a Grammar and DiCl:i0nary of all three. neiides other works written by him for the u!c of the paniards and the IHdians, he wrote in Spanif11 a Treatife on Mexican Antiquities; and in the Mexican language, the exhortations which the an i • ent Mexicans ufed to th eir children, of which there is a fpecimcn in ,the feventh book of this hifrory. Bernardo Sahagun, a laborious Francifcan Spaniard. Having been more han!Iixty years employed in infl:ruCl:ing the Mexicans, he made great proficiency in their language and the knowledge of their hiftory. B<.:fides fcveral works written by him, both in Mexican and in Spani!b, h~,; compofed in twelve g reat volumes in folio, a Uni~crfal DiCtionary of the Mexican Language, containing all that bdonged to the g~,;ography, the .religion, and the political and natU1·ai hiftory of the Mexicans. This work, of immenfe erudition and labour, was fcnt to the royal hifl:oriographcr of America, refident at Madrid, by the marquis of Villamanrique, viceroy of Mexico; and we do not doubt, but it is fl:iJI prcJcrved in fome library of Spain. He wrote alfo the General 1 Iifl:ory of New SJ1:tin, in four volumes, which ~ere preferved in manufcript in the libr:try of the convent of I· rancifcans in Tolofa dl: Navarra, according to the .aflirmation of Juan de S. Antonio, in his B£bliotbtca Pranc!Jcana. Alfonfo Zurita, a Spanifh lawyer and judge of Mexico. After hav .. ing, by order of king Philip II~ made diligent rcfearches into the civil government of the Mexicam, he wrote in Spaninl A compendt'ous Relation of tbc Lords tberc 'were £n Mc.vic·o, ami tbeir D/IJ~rmce: ()/ X If |